The United States does not punish its news organizations for doing their job and we wish that the Sri Lankan Government to do the same, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, Doug Frantz said today.

At an event held at the American Center via digital video conferencing, to mark World Press Freedom Day, Mr. Frantz highlighted the manner in which the US Government reacted to the media coverage on highly confidential files leaked by Edward Snowden.

“The US did not do anything.  We do not punish our news organisations for doing their job,” he said.

While also referring to the US World Press Freedom Index rankings that had dropped from 32nd place in 2013 to 46th place this year, Mr. Frantz acknowledged, “We don’t always behave perfectly.”

But he added that despite these shortcomings, the US had behaved in a way that sought to set an example to the rest of the world on the importance of press freedom.(Lakna Paranamanna)